The interpersonal skills are so important that the
project result depends on it directly or sometimes indirectly. They are
becoming such a hot topic, that this specific subject even has its very own
appendix in the updated PMBOK Guide – Fifth Edition (starting July 31, 2013).
So why are interpersonal skills so important to
project managers? Let’s take a look at 11 aspects of interpersonal skills
stressed in the PMBOK
Guide – Fifth Edition, to get a better understanding of how
interpersonal skills shape your projects and shape your career.
1. Leadership: When you are able to lead from a place
of trust and respect, rather than from using punishments to illicit fear, your
project team will be able to accomplish so much more. When you are a good
leader, you have the ability to get things done through others, and use each
individual’s strength to the advantage of the entire team. To be a successful
leader, you can’t just create a submissive team; you need to create an inspired
team that shares your vision and understands how their contributions are
helping to achieve that vision.
2. Team building: You can’t put together a group of people
that seem to make a good team ‘on paper’ and expect reality to align with your
expectations. And, unless you are really lucky, a team will need to proactively
work on team building in order to be effective. The team can do this by openly
and honestly talking about their expectations in their unique team roles,
deciding how they will deal with conflict should it arise, and focusing on
problems in terms of possible solutions, not in terms of blaming people for the
problems.
3. Motivation: How do you get a committed team who will
work hard toward a project’s goal? First, you need to find out how to motivate
them. This task may be more difficult than you originally think, because not
everyone is motivated in the same way. One person may be money motivated, while
another is better by professional achievement and growth. Get to know your team
and what motivates them, and develop a strategy to improve incentives that
speak to those motivations.
4. Communication: As you most likely already know,
communication, or lack thereof, can make or break a project team. While a
communication plan can greatly help in ensuring effective communication, there
are many other interpersonal dynamics that impact effective project team
communication, such as cultural and communication style differences.
5. Influencing: The skill of influence is very powerful,
and can be used either destructively or productively. You, as a project manager
with good intentions, have it in your greatest interest to improve your
influence skills to a level where you have the power to make significant
changes and improvements in your project team and organisation.
6. Decision making: How will you and your team make
important project team decisions? Will you as the project manager make
decisions on your own, or will you involve your team for most decisions? It’s
important to take some time to think about the decision-making process that
will take place in your project team, as it will affect many other areas, such
as motivation and team building.
7. Political and cultural awareness: The days are gone where a project
manager can live in an isolated bubble of their particular circumstance and
experience and expect to be able to relate to others. In today’s global
environment, successful project managers do not only recognise and accommodate
cultural diversity, they capitalise on it.
8. Negotiation: Think about how many times you negotiate
every day. Whether it pertains to what you watch on TV that evening (if I get
to choose the restaurant, you can decide what we watch afterward) to what
currency in which your newest international deal will be conducted,
negotiations permeate every part of our life. The more you listen to the other
party and understand their needs and wants, as well as your own, the better you
will be able to find a mutually beneficial solution that is win-win for both
parties.
9. Trust building: Can you imagine working on a project
team where each person only has their own interests in mind, and neither trusts
or likes anyone else on the team? Neither can I. Trust is the foundation of a
good project team, and give the entire team the flexibility they need to
accomplish tasks in the way they best know how.
10. Conflict management: When we hear the word ‘conflict’, we
often think of fighting, relationship deterioration, and stress. But this
negative connotation does not have to be your project team’s reality. Turning
conflict into collaborative problem solving is one of the best experiences a
team can have, as it addresses the validity of dissenting opinions and aims to
make the situation better than it was before.
11. Coaching: A project team reaches the ultimate
level of productivity when each team member feels empowered to reach their full
potential. When you invest in your team in the form of training and formal or
information coaching, they will in turn invest in the project and organisation
with their time, skill, and expertise.